Our New President Richard Foster

Richard Foster is elected to the post of President of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters

“It is a real privilege to stand in the footsteps of great portrait painters such as Sir William Open, Augustus John and John Ward,” believes Richard. “As President, I will strive to ensure that we encourage and attract truly outstanding portraits in order to continue our tradition of excellence in this genre.”

Richard Foster was born in 1945 and brought up in Norfolk. He was educated at Harrow School, Studio Simi and the British Institute in Florence, Trinity College Oxford and the City and Guilds of London Art School; not forgetting the influence of his friends and contemporaries! He has been a Member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters since 1976, and has been on the Council and Hon Treasurer at various times, Vice President between 1991 and 1994.

In a longish career, Richard Foster has tried to be as diverse as possible. He has painted a great variety of pictures in both oil and watercolour, not just single portraits and family groups, but also landscapes and compositions which he shows in his one man exhibitions every three or four years. His work tends towards understatement, but in the words of Francis Russell, head of Old Masters at Christie’s, “His pictures wear well”.

He will be giving a talk on a series of paintings installed in a Norfolk Church during an exhibition of preparatory work in July.